Family’s love of sports keeps bond alive

Every time 5-year-old Trevor McDill steps up to bat for his East Louisville Sports baseball team, he wears a custom helmet with an angel/baseball image emblazoned on it — the logo symbolizing his late father’s love.

His father wanted to be there for his son’s first game, and in a way, perhaps he was.

In 2009, Trevor’s father, Mike McDill, was diagnosed with lung cancer. McDill had a rare mutation called Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase. The diagnosis was a surprise, since Mike never smoked and hadn’t spent much time around smokers.

Because of the mutation, he qualified to be part of a clinical trial for a new, federally approved drug to treat the illness. At first the drug worked; he was disease-free for 16 months. But eventually it stopped working. On Jan. 31, 2013, at the age of 40, he died at his home, surrounded by family and friends.

Being active in sports was something Mike shared with his family — his wife, Tammy, and their two children — Trevor and daughter Sydney, who is 8. Mike ran track and played baseball and tennis and had a general love of sports. Tammy was a college gymnast. And their kids are carrying on the tradition. Sydney, a second-grader, runs track for St. Aloysius in Pewee Valley, and Trevor, who will be going to kindergarten at St. Aloysius in the fall, plays baseball for the East Louisville Sports Reds at Crosby Park in Middletown.

“It was hard for Trevor with the first couple of baseball practices,” Tammy McDill said. “You see all the dads here with their sons.”

McDill said that Trevor’s godfather, Steve Ahr, has been taking him to practice, and a couple of other dads have been taking him under their wing. There has been a lot of support from the community.

The McDills have used athletics and sports as a way to cope with the grief. Tammy McDill just ran the Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon in her husband’s memory, saying she did it for her kids. Also, for the past few years, they have held a golf outing to raise money for cancer research, and it has continued after Mike’s death. It’s called the Superman Scramble.

Friends and family gave Mike the nickname Superman because of the way he battled cancer. Sydney said she wanted to continue to hold the Superman golf scramble “for daddy.”

At the baseball diamond at Crosby Park is a banner that will be displayed for the season. It shows the Superman logo awash in a field of stars. Embracing the diamond that encases the “S” are his wife’s and children’s names.

It reads, “Go Trevor — Play Hard. From your angel in the outfield, Daddy.”